Chapter: My Sunshine

Shalan's Say: Uhm… this chapter… is going to be difficult for many of you to handle… but it is far from the end… I am telling you… don't leave me now… because you'll be leaving before the end… far before the end.

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Ichigo watched in awe, this was a first for him that he could remember. He hadn't been allowed into to see his sisters' birth but now he had just witnessed the birth of his own child. His own flesh and blood… and it was something that awed him, something that completely floored him as he was handed the small bundle. Rukia lifted a hand and gently touched her baby's cheek. The small clean room they were in seemed to light up as he handed her the baby.

He had stayed the night at the hospital with her, curling up in one of the uncomfortable chairs. She had tried to talk him into staying in the bed with her but the doctors told her it wasn't big enough.

"She's so beautiful…" Tears welled up in her eyes as she cradled the tiny bundle. Ichigo had heard his sisters when he was a boy, when they were babies and their crying came back to him now… unfortunately.

"What should we name her?" He asked softly leaning down next to her cheek. She laughed as he teasingly rubbed his cheek against hers.

"You're all stubbly…" she chuckled, rubbing his face. He smiled and brushed his cheek against hers again. "Misaki," she smiled, remembering his mother. He blinked.

"That was my…" he trailed off as she turned her head to look at him. "Mother's name…" She smiled and for the first time in a long time she saw tears in his eyes. It had been almost two years… and it almost stunned her.

"We can name her something else… if you want…" she suggested and he shook his head.

"Misaki… you're going to be a beautiful girl…" he stroked his thumb along her cheek gently. "I love you my baby girl…" He whispered to her.

"And she loves you…" Rukia smiled as he kissed her. She smiled against his lips.

"And I love her mother…" He cupped her face with his hand.

"I love her father," she swallowed as she said it and he nearly blinked. She had never said that to him before. "I love you Ichigo Kurosaki… and if you don't know that by now… you're really dense…" She laughed and pressed her forehead against his.

"I'm just really dense…" He kissed her again, the one thing he had wanted all his life… a wife and child… yet there were so many thing wrong with the picture. She was still legally someone else's wife, they were being hunted and their baby was in danger. But all that seemed trivial right now to the fact that his daughter had just been born. "My baby girl…" he smiled at the sleeping baby.

"My Ichigo…" she smiled and he smiled back, his guilt already building. If this didn't go as planned…

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Three months passed quickly for them… waking nights and not much of a chance alone. After about two… she settled down and began sleeping mostly through the night… and for the past few weeks they had been catching up on sleep. So when she walked into their bedroom after putting her to sleep she wasn't all that shocked to see that Ichigo was sitting up waiting for her. He smiled as she walked over and snuggled into his arms. He took in a deep breath of her scent, burying his nose into her hair.

"I love you…" he whispered as their lips met. Her mind whirred as his hands unbuttoned her blouse.

"I love you to… by what's going on?" She laughed as he pulled her blouse down. Her hands tangled through his hair as his lips made their paths against her skin.

That night… he made love to her like it was going to be the last time…

He wanted to imprint her into his mind; the way her skin felt, her scent, the many curves and contours of her body. This was the woman he loved more than life itself, the mother of his beautiful daughter and the one he did not want to leave.

The one that didn't know he would be leaving her…

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Rukia hummed lightly as they walked the next day. Ichigo smiled, his fingers tangled through hers. She leaned her head on his shoulder with a soft sigh, their baby tucked in the stroller in front of them. But for some reason… something was tugging at the back of her mind. The night before had been too perfect, it almost seemed planned… she felt him unhook his hand from hers and wrap and arm around her waist protectively. She looked around. He only did that when something was going on.

"Ichigo?" She asked and he pulled her hip closer, tightly against his. His hand gripping her hip with almost painful force. His other hand had lifted up his suit jacket over the gun on that side. She hated gun fights… she had hoped that their daughter would be spared the sounds of a gun fight this early in her life.

"When I tell you to run… take Misaki and run as fast as you can back home…" He whispered to her as the crowds parted around a tall man with long spikes in his hair. They stepped a little closer. "RUN! NOW!" He pulled out both of his guns and fired, the people in the street hit the ground as Rukia picked up baby Misaki and turned then she heard another shot, that one was not from Ichigo's gun. She swung around to see something that tore her heart to shreds.

"ICHIGO!" She screamed as blood spurted out of the side of his head. Suddenly a powerful arm wrapped around her waist and a hand over her mouth and nose. "ICHIGOOOO!" Her voice was grating, tears pouring down her face. "ICHIGOOO! ICHIGAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO!" She heard the baby in her arms screaming, people screaming, her own screaming then suddenly nothing as her world went black.

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XD

How are you doing? I'm doing awesome… Rukia isn't doing so hot…

Shalan